Music Tournament of DOOM 2017- Buy-in List Part 1

[Cmdr_King]

Our final few slots in the Music Tournament of DOOM will be decided from among the remaining nominations after the majority of the tourney has been filled.  This will be done in the list format: each slot has seven (or six) contenders, simply rank them from best to worst.  They'll be divided up across four topics just for readability, and will be open until they're needed (so, until Topic 16 needs to go up, four and change weeks from now).

Slot 1

Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
Diablo II= Tristram
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe

Slot 2

Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend

[Sierra]

OH SHIT PERTURBATOR'S IN THE POOL

Slot 1

1: NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
2: Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
3: Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
4: Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
5: Diablo II= Tristram
6: Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
7: NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)

Slot 2

1: Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
2: Risk of Rain – Coalescence
3: NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
4: Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
5: Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
6: Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
7: Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend

[Random Consonant]

Slot 1

1. NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
2. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme - not as good as the above two, but still more likely to give it repeat listenings than the one below it.
4. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals) - probably missing required context to fully appreciate this one, and the constant BECOME AS GODS makes me not really in a hurry to give it much in the way of repeat listenings.  Still good though.
5. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe - Kind of outclassed here.
6. Diablo II= Tristram - zzzzz
7. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld - wouldn't make it higher than fifth in this pool even if I cared for it at all.

Slot 2

1. NieR Automata - Memories of Dust - well this was a fairly close tossup between this and Blinded by Light until the 2m mark.
2. Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light - so it goes, though.
3. Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
4. Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
5. Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo - humor value gets you fifth, I guess
6. Risk of Rain – Coalescence
7. Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
 

[Dunefar]

Memories of dust has a dead link. Not voting on it for now on account of that.

Slot 1

1. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe - Somewhere in the broad meh to okay range, but high enough to take first. This was not a good pool.
2. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero  - Okay, would've done better without the background guitar. Still a solid enough track for what it is.
3. NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song - Doesn't live up to its name, but it isn't terrible. This isn't a strong pool, which helps it a lot. On the downside, the track is really too busy and has too much going on with it for my tastes. Relax a little, y'know?
4. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme - Bland and inoffensive.
5. Diablo II= Tristram  - Meh. Just isn't there for me.
6. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld  - A relic of its time, one that shouldn't be unearthed.
7. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals) - Nope, nope, nope.

Slot 2

1. Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend - A shockingly good piece that manages a pretty melancholy. I'm pleasantly surprised.
2. Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light - Best part of FF13 for me. It's only a shame it takes a bit too long to get going. But when it hits, man, it hits.
3. Risk of Rain – Coalescence - Now this one I like. Slow, relaxed and good without forcing it.
4. Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division - Just isn't very catchy. There's not much more to say about it.
5. Hotline Miami - Miami Disco - Even more meh.
6. Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo - I see why FF13 has issues.

[Cmdr_King]

New link on Memories of Dust.  Hopefully it's the same iteration (Automata uses dynamic music so there's bunches of versions of the same track, but at a glance the dead link was the neutral one.)

[NotMiki]

3. Risk of Rain – Coalescence - Now this one I like. Slow, relaxed and good without forcing it.

For reference, this is the final stage theme for the game, where you're constantly under siege from an endless stream of the game's deadliest enemies and it's hectic nonstop action and volatility. (It works really well ingame!)

[Talaysen]

Slot 1

NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
Diablo II= Tristram
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe

Slot 2

Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco

[Fudozukushi]

Slot 1

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
Diablo II= Tristram
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld


Slot 2

Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo

[VySaika]

Slot 1

1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme - Very solid and enjoyable.
2. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero - feels very similar to the Layton theme, I think I enjoyed Layton a bit more though. Still pretty solid.
3. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe - close tie with the above for 2nd place here. I think I like the way Zero picks up a bit more though.
4. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld - I like otherworld well enough actually.
5. NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song - a pretty alright song at least
6. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals) - takes 2 minutes to stop being bad, just droning repeating robo voice in the background isn't great so when that's all the song is for awhile I'm not really thrilled. Gets decent, aside from said droning repeating robot voice, but eh. Not enough
7. Diablo II= Tristram - I did not in fact stay awhile and listen.

Slot 2

1. Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light - I bitch about bad buildup quite a bit, Blinded by Light is a good example of how to do build up well imo.
2. Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend - slight own nom bias putting it above the below
3. NieR Automata - Memories of Dust - best of the Nier songs in this topic easily
4. Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo - purely for amusement factor, probably actually worse than the below
5. Hotline Miami - Miami Disco - pretty catchy right off the bat
6. Risk of Rain – Coalescence - def a stronger pool than the above, considering this is second to last and I don't dislike it at all
7. Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division - meh

For anyone curious, the in game context for Farewell to a Friend is that it's the music playing during the mafia-style vote reveal at the end of a section when the person getting eliminated is someone you have max bond with. You get a short conversation about how they are really torn up about being the traitor and how much they really do like you and wish that you weren't on the opposite sides. And then they get zapped into nothingness. I will grant that it's WAY better in game than it is standalone, though I think as far as melancholy songs go it's pretty good standalone too.

[Technetium43]

Slot 1

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero: Much better than I was expecting, probably the only Ace Combat song so far that I've actually liked.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme: Cute and plays to my tastes.
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe: Pretty nice overall.
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song: Very slightly less pretty nice overall.
Diablo II= Tristram: Found it very boring.
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals): B E C O M E  A S  G O D S
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld: I have never been more disappointed in the follow up to the first 30 seconds of a song.

Slot 2

Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light: Just overall solid.
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust: Desert themed songs are something I have a soft spot for.
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend: Definitely is Best In Mood for these pools, but not really my thing. Still can acknowledge it's quite good though.
Risk of Rain – Coalescence: Just genuinely enjoyable and inoffensive to listen to. Nothing really special, though.
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco: Catchy. That's p much it.
Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division: Music that sounds like Hans Zimmer having a bowel movement does not interest me in any way. However, it interests me more than...
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo: This is certainly a thing that has entered my ears.

[DragonKnight Zero]

Slot 1

1. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero  The instrument choices give it a Hispanic flavor.  It's rather unexpected here.  Giving it top spot for using an uncommon genre for the context.
2. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme  Inoffensive and, more importantly, short
3. Diablo II= Tristram  Very mellow, quite unexpected for a series known for hack and slash
4, NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song  Middling vocal piece
5. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe  More middling vocal piece
6. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld  I have heard this before as a MIDI piece in a Doom mod.  Some of what makes this piece grating is not present there.  There are a few bits I like which is more than I can say for...
7. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)  oh hell no

[Niu]

Slot 1

Diablo II= Tristram
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals) - No, just no. the based version of Possessed by Disease is great. But adding Become as God on to it simply does not work. Become as God works well with Birth of Reason, but definitely not Possessed by Diseases. Even then, This Cannot Continue>>>>>Become as God in general.

Slot 2

NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division

[OblivionKnight]

Slot 1
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
Diablo II= Tristram
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)

Slot 2
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo

[SnowFire]

1. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
2. NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
3. Diablo II= Tristram
4. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
5. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
6. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
7. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero

Pretty good pool, nothing really bad in it.  Hard to pick between the top 2 which are both great.
Tristram is memorable as one of the better pieces in a largely forgettable, backgroundy soundtrack.


1. Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
2. Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
3. NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
4. Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
5. Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
6. Risk of Rain – Coalescence
7. Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division

That's a hell of a top 3.  All pretty awesome.
Farewell to a Friend & Coalescence are solid, and Crazy Chocobo has memorable lyrics!
Not in a metal mood ATM for BFG.  Needed to be more humorous somewhere, it's too straight-up.

[Twilkitri]

Slot 1

Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
Diablo II= Tristram
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld

Slot 2

Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
Risk of Rain – Coalescence
Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division

[NotMiki]

Slot 1

1. NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song
2. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero
3. Final Fantasy X- Otherworld
4. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme
5. NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals)
6. Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe
7. Diablo II= Tristram

Slot 2

1. Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light
2. NieR Automata - Memories of Dust
3. Risk of Rain – Coalescence
4. Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division
5. Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend
6. Hotline Miami - Miami Disco
7. Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo

[Cmdr_King]

Slot 1

Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Layton's Theme - (4+4+3+3+1+6+5+5+3+1+1+3)/12 3.25
NieR Automata - Possessed by Disease (machine vocals) (0+3+0+6+5+1+1+0+0+0+3+2+2)/13 1.77
NieR Automata- A Beautiful Song - (6+6+4+5+4+2+3+3+3+1+5+5+6)/13 4.08
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War- Zero - (5+5+5+2+6+5+6+6+4+5+0+4+5)/13 4.46
Diablo II= Tristram (2+1+2+4+3+0+2+4+5+4+4+3+0)/13 2.62
Final Fantasy X- Otherworld (1+0+1+1+0+3+0+1+1+2+2+0+4)/13 1.23
Legend of Dragoon- If You Still Believe (3+2+6+0+2+4+4+2+2+6+6+6+1)/13 3.38

Slot 2

Doom 2016/Doom 4 - BFG Division (3+0+2+6+4+0+1+0+1+0+0+3)/12 1.67
Hotline Miami - Miami Disco (6+4+1+0+5+2+2+2+6+5+6+1)/12 3.33
Risk of Rain – Coalescence (5+1+3+1+3+1+3+3+4+1+1+4)/12 2.5
Final Fantasy XIII- Blinded by Light (1+5+4+5+6+6+6+4+3+6+2+6)/12 4.5
Final Fanasy XIII-2 - Crazy Chocobo (2+2+0+4+0+3+0+1+0+2+5+0)/12 1.58
NieR Automata - Memories of Dust (4+6+3+2+4+5+6+2+4+4+5)/11 4.09
Lost Dimension- Farewell to a Friend (0+3+5+2+1+5+4+5+5+3+3+2)/12 3.17